Rather than feeling green with envy over your neighbor’s Spring Break trip t o St Lucia, St Thomas or St “you-are-so-stinkin-lucky” – you and your kids can still have fun being home. Sure you might have colder tootsies than neighbor Nelly, but hey – the purpose of Spring Break is to just relax and take a BREAK. Doesn’t matter where!
I took this week off from my job to spend it at home just hanging with my M and E and SmilingGreenDad! Just yesterday I was thinking about this post and I thought “gosh, break is almost over and we’ve hardly done anything.” Then before I would allow myself to sulk into deep dark mommy-guilt, I re-visualized the entire past 5 days and found a great surprise once I turned my thinking around. We *did* do a lot! We have fun! I always talk about the small things that we can do to change our lives into being more green – well shouldn’t the same apply to our every day life too?
It’s been a wonderful break for us all by simply being together – enjoying all kinds of small things!
Wanna see the list? Here’s what we have enjoyed doing all this week and remember – we have had fun!
-rollerskating
-shopping at Goodwill and Plato’s Closet
-creating our Earth Day recycled art project
-hanging laundry (okay, not so fun!)
-played board games
-went out for ice cream (our E had to eat the icky artificially colored slushie at Dairy Queen since they don’t offer soy icecream. I have had some words with the owner. Okay I pleaded. No luck. No Soy. Shucks).
-Got to drive a 2011 Nissan (which is NOT green, come on!) this week since my van is being worked on at Ford. (take your time Ford! A 2011 non-green ride is sorta nice just cuz it’s so pretty! Oh the guilt!)
-went to the park
-coloring for our 4-H projects
-baked homemade cinnamon bread, pancakes and put together a raw vegetable salad together (yum! recipe to come!)
-Stayed up until 10:30 p.m. (that’s super late for us – we’re wild like that) watching Barbie Island Princess
-Ate popcorn until 10:30 p.m. watching Barbie Island Princess
…and we visited three pet stores to sit and play with/pet all the puppies, bunnies, kitties and even a ferret! We can’t have pets in our home (well, aside of fish) due to allergies but we love to snuggle with them at the pet store. I am almost certain that I am a distant relative to “Ro” (you know, the Island Princess) because I was convinced that the cockatiels and I were chatting it up. Even though the lady at the store said they can’t speak, I’m sure he did. We totally had a connection.
*Please remember the animals at the shelter - they too are so deserving of a good home.
and it’s only Thursday! We still have several more days of craziness ahead of us to do even more. So when your kids are off from school, I encourage you to look into local events taking place and just enjoy being at home together. It’s all those small things that can add up to one very cool and very memorable STAYcation!
Our local YMCA
Here’s a few things to get you started and definitely worth checking out in your area!
Children’s Museum
Parks and Recreation
Ice Skating
Rollerskating
Botanical Gardens
Monuments
Tour your Courthouse
Visit your local Police Station, arrange a visit with an officer, get your children fingerprinted, have them checked for booster seat height and weight info. Our kids visited our town’s department and got some super cool “police badge” stickers and erasers!
Library – free goodies!
-nature paths (hiking/walking)
-bowling
-indoor swimming at a local hotel or YMCA day pass
Anymore ideas that any of you can add to this??? Leave a comment letting us know what you plan to do for Spring Break or ideas for others! Remember, whether you are an aunt, cousin, parent or friend – any child would love these activities to do!
Image Credits:
http://www.legaljuice.com/2009/10/is_that_a_ferret_in_your_pants.html
http://www.fanpop.com/spots/barbie-movies/images/1771896/title/ro-wallpaper
Wow! It sounds like you had a great time this week! We are planning a quick day trip to the beach where we rent a cottage on Lake Michigan. We won’t be able to go into the house but we can hang out on the beach and hike the trails there anyway. It’s fun to see it all in the “off” season.
The Y has day passes?! Sweet! That would be perfect for my swimmer Sara. I’m going to check this out at our local Y.
We’re staying home as well. We’ll be working on final spring school projects, practicing for the spring ballet recital, the spring musical, doing occupational therapy, visual therapy, and hopefully (crossing our fingers) spending hours and hours outside. We have “mud gardens” and our favorite parks. Maybe sew a few things? Now that’s just crazy talk!
Best, Lori
We’re staycationing this week too and we went to Plato’s closet…just like you. We finished our Plato’s closet/TJ Maxx run with a trip to DeBrand! {Yum}
We’ve also enjoyed lazy mornings at home, staying up later than usual, watching TV on weekdays (something not allowed during school), we’ve volunteered at the church (OK…I didn’t volunteer, but the kids did), and the girls have made plenty of plans with friends.
Oh how awesome Jen!! The beach in Michigan…wow. Near the dunes? Have fun – I will pray for warm weather for ya
I bet the kids will LOVE that!!!
Oh Lori – you have so many fun things planned!!!! That sounds great
The reason we were able to get a day pass to our Y was because they were converting it to a community pool rather than an actual Y. BUT I do think they have a day pass if you ask for a one day trial pass! I have gotten one before 
Also try any local indoor swim club – they usually have little deals or punch passes. Your daughter is a swimmer??? WOOOOHOOOOO!!!!!! I was a college swimmer – lived in the water from the time I was eight years old – LOVE swimming! Such a great sport 
What’s her stroke? I swam butterfly and free – all sprint! Quick burst of energy and no stamina for long events LOL! Great to hear from you – enjoy your break!
Sounds awesome girlie! I hope you guys have tons of fun – wish the weather would warm up though!!! p.s. Did you bring me some of that DeBrands? LOL